Linux, TV cards and DVD recording
I am thinking of getting a digital TV card for my computer so that I can record programmes for viewing later on my television using a DVD player. I already have a DVD R/W drive on my computer ( 2 x 1.3 MHz CPUs ). I'm using a 2.4 kernel and don't propose moving to 2.6 in the near future. I'm planning to use what I believe is called Terrestrial digital broadcasting and NOT satallite broadcasts. I've borrowed someone's set top box for a short time and was able to get BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4 and Channel 5. This was using an ordinary pre-channel 5 aerial so I'm hoping that a proper digital aerial will give more channels. According to freeview.co.uk I can't get any digital channels for my postcode, BBC tells me that I can get only BBC channels and dtg.org tells me I can get all of them. Ain't the web wonderful? This raises lots of questions and the more research I do the longer the list of questions seems to grow. I'm thinking of an Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T PCI as I understand it works with Linux. Is it going to be difficult to set up? Any suggestions/ recommendations for other PCI cards? The specification for this says that it accepts UHF input only but what I want to know is can I plug my tv aerial lead into it and expect it to work? What Linux software is available/needed? I don't understand a lot of the terminology and don't know what to search for. I run Debian Sarge/ Testing. How easy/difficult is it to create DVD discs with, for example, 2 hours of recording? What about file sizes greater than 2 GB? Do I need to take the different DVD formats ( DVD-R DVD+R ) into account when using a DVD player for playback? Watching the only DVD disc I have (Life on Earth - BBC), which came with a packet of cornflakes, I see that moving objects are noticeably blurred. Is this a function of my video setup Matrox Millenium AGP. Any comments and advice would be appreciated at this stage. I feel like someone who's learning to fly for the very first time in dense fog! Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain
On Mon, Dec 27, 2004 at 03:30:07PM +0000, Barry Samuels wrote:
CPUs ). I'm using a 2.4 kernel and don't propose moving to 2.6 in the near future.
You may want to move to 2.6, it has been around for over a year now and will make much of what you propose to do much easier.
I'm planning to use what I believe is called Terrestrial digital broadcasting and NOT satallite broadcasts. I've borrowed someone's set top box for a short time and was able to get BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4 and Channel 5. This was using an ordinary pre-channel 5 aerial so I'm hoping that a proper digital aerial will give more channels.
It sounds as though you couldn't get a signal from the other multiplexes, you will probably want/need an aerial upgrade, and replace the cable with low-loss stuff, filters etc. depending on where you are, it may be quicker/easier to get a decent aerial fitter out and pay them to do this for you. Where are you located btw? as which transmitter you receive the broadcasts from will make a difference etc.
I'm thinking of an Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T PCI as I understand it works with Linux. Is it going to be difficult to set up? Any suggestions/ recommendations for other PCI cards? The specification for this says that it accepts UHF input only but what I want to know is can I plug my tv aerial lead into it and expect it to work?
AFAIK that card will work fine, you want to refer to this page http://www.linuxtv.org/dvb/ as there are some links on there. To get it working you are going to need the linux dvb drivers built as modules or into your kernel (they are part of kernel 2.6 and can be built for 2.4 but it involves lots of messing around, this is partially why I suggest upgrading the kernel).
What Linux software is available/needed? I don't understand a lot of the terminology and don't know what to search for. I run Debian Sarge/ Testing.
Have a look at the output of apt-cache search dvb you will need the package "dvb-utils" you will also probably end up swearing lots when trying to get the card tuned to all of the freeview channels (this is why I would like to know where you are, as I have a config file suitable for the Tacolneston transmitter) Also are you planning to perhaps use the machine as a digital video recorder? If so you want to take a look at both mythtv and vdr (you will want to take a look at these anyhow) or do you mean that you only want to record video from Freeview to put onto DVD discs?
How easy/difficult is it to create DVD discs with, for example, 2 hours of recording? What about file sizes greater than 2 GB?
I have never tried to put a Freeview stream onto a DVD for playback in a DVD player, it isn't as easy as just burning the files to the DVD as data AIUI. Google will turn up some hits for what you want I'm pretty certain of this.
Do I need to take the different DVD formats ( DVD-R DVD+R ) into account when using a DVD player for playback?
One or other of the formats may not play in the DVD player, but there is no reasons for choosing one over the other (perhaps 5% of DVD players have trouble with one or other of the formats) it is trial and error as to what works. If you are only playing the disks back on your computer then it is extremely unlikely you will have a problem.
Watching the only DVD disc I have (Life on Earth - BBC), which came with a packet of cornflakes, I see that moving objects are noticeably blurred. Is this a function of my video setup Matrox Millenium AGP.
It could be that you are using generic drivers for the Video card in XFree86? You would most likely want to check that you are using the Matrox "mga" driver (double check that your card is supposed to use this driver first!) and that it is setup correctly. Matrox cards should be *very* good for 2d picture quality so it sounds odd that you are having a problem. (also checkout that agp support is enabled and working etc. again it seems to me that 2.6 is much better for this than 2.4) Adam -- jabberid = quinophex@jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem
adam@thebowery.co.uk wrote:
On Mon, Dec 27, 2004 at 03:30:07PM +0000, Barry Samuels wrote:
CPUs ). I'm using a 2.4 kernel and don't propose moving to 2.6 in the near future.
You may want to move to 2.6, it has been around for over a year now and will make much of what you propose to do much easier.
I agree with this advice. I did get my Nova-T working with the 2.4 kernel but it was a pain and with 2.6 it just worked (once I'd selected the correct options to compile into my kernel). [...]
What Linux software is available/needed? I don't understand a lot of the terminology and don't know what to search for. I run Debian Sarge/ Testing.
Have a look at the output of apt-cache search dvb you will need the package "dvb-utils" you will also probably end up swearing lots when trying to get the card tuned to all of the freeview channels (this is why I would like to know where you are, as I have a config file suitable for the Tacolneston transmitter)
Also are you planning to perhaps use the machine as a digital video recorder? If so you want to take a look at both mythtv and vdr (you will want to take a look at these anyhow) or do you mean that you only want to record video from Freeview to put onto DVD discs?
I'd also suggest you google for kaxtv, it allows you to watch and record DVB channels and it's a lot simpiler than VDR or MythTV to get working. It isn't a full blown PVR program though so if you do want to do scheduled recordings and time shifting go for one of the others (I use MythTV).
How easy/difficult is it to create DVD discs with, for example, 2 hours of recording? What about file sizes greater than 2 GB?
I have never tried to put a Freeview stream onto a DVD for playback in a DVD player, it isn't as easy as just burning the files to the DVD as data AIUI. Google will turn up some hits for what you want I'm pretty certain of this.
I've done it and it seemed to work fine in my DVD player although a friend's Windows PC complained about the format beeing too high a bitrate. I can't find any of the links to instructions at the moment but google should definately bring up something. I think I used GOPChop to split up the stream and dvdauthor to write the dvds. If you end up using MythTV there is a program that'll take a MythTV recording and reformat it for you to DVD, SVCD, MPEG4 etc. called nuvexport. HTH, JD
Barry Samuels wrote:
I'm thinking of an Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T PCI as I understand it works with Linux.
I've heard this is the case. But if you get it working PLEASE tell me how you did it. I actually have one of those and have never got it to work with a 2.4 kernel. I'm running Ubuntu Linux with the 2.6.8.1-3-386 kernel and haven't tried getting it to work since having this kernel, the last time was too scary :) Just one of those things I've been meaning to get round to! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. -- Ben "tola" Francis http://hippygeek.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------- COMPUTER SUPPORT for small businesses and home users http://tolatech.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------
participants (4)
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adam＠thebowery.co.uk -
Barry Samuels -
Ben Francis -
Jon Dye